Judge to decide Iron Mike's fate
Tyson will learn Friday if he's headed back to jail
Posted: Wednesday February 03, 1999 05:16 PM
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Mike Tyson: "I know I'm going to blow one day." Craig Jones/Allsport |
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The two men Mike Tyson attacked at a fender bender think the former heavyweight champ shouldn't go to jail. The prosecutor feels otherwise, but won't be able to say so in court.
The opinion that really matters belongs to Judge Stephen Johnson, who on Friday will determine whether Tyson's latest comeback is over after just one fight. Johnson will sentence the fighter on two counts of second-degree assault, which will trigger a decision in Indiana on whether Tyson has violated his probation for a 1991 rape conviction.
"If he goes to jail here, it's much, much more likely he'll go to jail there," said Paul Kemp, Tyson's lawyer.
Johnson must determine whether Tyson is "nothing less than a time bomb buried in our back yard" -- as argued by Montgomery County State's Attorney Douglas Gansler -- or a "different Mike" who has taken well to therapy and has become a more caring person -- as put forth by his adviser Shelley Finkel and others.
Tyson kicked one motorist and punched another after a minor three-car accident in the Washington suburb of Gaithersburg, Md., on Aug. 31. On Dec. 1, he pleaded no contest -- meaning he neither protests the assault charges nor admits guilt -- and could receive up to 20 years imprisonment.
The two victims, Abmielec Saucedo and Richard Hardick, were paid an undisclosed amount to avoid a civil suit shortly before Tyson's plea. Both will be present Friday, ready to testify if necessary on Tyson's behalf.
"Any inference that we've been purchased or bribed is off the wall," said Saucedo's lawyer, Glenn Culpepper. "From the very beginning, my client said he didn't want him to convicted, he wanted him to be helped."
Tyson's laywer, who will ask for probation, plans to call character witnesses, including one from a Washington homeless shelter where Tyson has been doing volunteer work. He will also point out that while training in Arizona recently, Tyson visited teenage inmates and paid for the funeral of a 2-year-old girl shot to death during a burglary.
Tyson, who lives in the Washington suburb of Bethesda, Md., continues to undergo therapy at Georgetown University.
The prosecution sees things differently. In a sentencing memorandum to the judge, Gansler called Tyson a "bully" who committed "road rage." Gansler quoted the November Playboy interview in which Tyson called himself a "hateful individual" and said: "I know I'm going to blow one day."
Gansler also notes Tyson's rape conviction in Indiana, seven brushes with the law as a juvenile, as well as the infamous fight in which Tyson bit off part of Evander Holyfield's ear in June 1997. Tyson subsequently had his boxing license revoked for a year before returning to knock out Francois Botha in the fifth round in a comeback bout last month.
What Gansler cannot do is ask the judge to put Tyson in jail. The no contest plea agreement negotiated by Gansler's predecessor forbids that.
Gansler doesn't like that agreement, so he's been publicly saying that Tyson should go to jail -- while telling the judge that Tyson should be sentenced to a "period of executed incarceration," which technically could mean home detention.
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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